Cardiff School of History, Archaeology and Religion

Academic History

2009-2010: MA Early Modern History, Swansea University (Distinction)

2006-2009: BA History, Swansea University (First Class Honours)

PhD Research

Working Title: Female Criminality in Wales, c.1730-1830.

My thesis provides an unparalleled insight into female crime and gender relations in Wales during the long eighteenth century. It draws on over 1,500 Great Sessions records, including depositions, examinations and recognisances, to analyse Welsh women’s involvement in serious crime, including homicide, infanticide, and felonious property offences. It also incorporates Quarter Sessions records from Denbighshire, Caernarfonshire, Pembrokeshire and Brecknockshire to explore women’s involvement in misdemeanours such as petty theft and assault. Welsh court records are more detailed than English Assize records, but remain underexploited. By employing both quantitative and qualitative methods, I am able to offer a comprehensive statistical analysis alongside a detailed reading of witness testimony and similar sources. In doing so I am able to analyse the age, social rank and marital status of Welsh women involved in criminal activity, to demonstrate the extent to which these elements affected judicial outcomes. The legal records are supplemented by ballads, conduct literature and articles from The Cambrian newspaper to examine representations of female criminals. This thesis situates female criminality within the wider context of the social, economic and domestic roles of women in Welsh society, and focuses on both continuity and change.

Start Date: October 2010

First Supervisor: Dr Garthine Walker

Second Supervisor: Dr Lloyd Bowen

Additional Information

I am a seminar tutor on the Level 1 module ‘Early Modern England and Wales’.

I am also co-organiser of ‘SHARE with Schools’, a ‘Widening Access and Community Engagement Initiative’ within the School of History, Archaeology and Religion at Cardiff University.